Arriving Frankfurt by air 8:00; safe to reserve a 10:00 am ICE train to Munich?

"Arriving Frankfurt by air 8:00"

How do you know you are arriving at 8:00? Because that's the schedule? I have personally been 1 hr later than scheduled into Frankfurt 2 out of 5 times. I have seen flights later. I don't think 2 hours is enough, particularly considering that, depending on the airline and gate, it could take an hour to get to the Fernbahnhof. But if you allow three hours, you could have arrived in Munich as soon using regional trains and leaving immediately.

An RMV Gruppentageskarte from Frankfurt Flughafen to Kahl am Main costs 26,90€ for all 5 of you. A Bayern-Ticket, purchase online or from an Automat at the Frankfurt Regionalbhf costs 39€, 65,90€, total, and no risk.

Or, consider staying in Frankfurt or Mainz the first night and using the Savings Fare ticket the next day, when you know you can make it.

It didn't work for me last fall. I have had late planes 6 out of my last 8 flights to Europe. I only had 29E at stake (getting tickets 92 days in advance give really big savings!) vs the 103 I ended up paying.

Can you get a train later in the day?

If you're arriving at FRA after a transcontinental flight, expect to be jet-lagged and in no condition to drive anyway.

After arrival, I would buy a time-flexible day pass like Lee has suggested on Day 1. HOWEVER, there is a better option than the two tickets he's suggested (which do happen to be the best weekday option) since you arrive on a Saturday, a day when you can make the entire trip for €44 using the Happy Weekend ticket, which you can read about
HERE.

It's a VERY long trip from FRA to Munich by train. What I'd do is break up the trip with one night in Würzburg, a Romantic Road city roughly 2.3 hours from FRA with one change of train. You can see some of Würzburg that first day instead of at the END of your Romantic Road north. Then after a night's rest there either...
...use the Bayern ticket to travel to Munich - still roughly 3.5+ hours by regional train. Or...
... use a pre-purchased savings fare on the faster trains to reach Munich earlier (2.0 - 2.5 hours or so.)

I always buy saver tickets whenever possible. However, I never get them when I land in Frankfurt for all the reasons mentioned above. Instead, I stay overnight with a friend and book the saver fare for the following day.

In your case, I would consider spending a good part of your first day in Frankfurt and doing a bit of sightseeing right there. Jo will be happy to give you some ideas for a half day and lunch in Frankfurt! And then book a saver fare for the train ride to Munich later in the afternoon to get you into Munich in the early evening.

I would caution you against a Happy Weekend Ticket or Gruppentageskarte as you can only use slower regional trains. That can add 2-3 hours of travel time compared to the faster ICE connection. I would not want to do that after a long flight.

Hi,

Two hours is not enough time. I don't advise it. Coming from SFO I've been one hour late getting in to FRA. It didn't matter too much then since I was staying the first night in Frankfurt. This last time flying United I landed at FRA at 0900 as scheduled. At 1300 I was at Frankfurt Hbf on the ICE train to Berlin.

I would just stay in Frankfurt overnight, booking your train for early the next morning. No stress with delayed flights, you get a good nights sleep and you have the chance to visit one of the older cities of Germany, as well as one of the most important. Nice street festival in one of the prettiest neighborhoods, Sachsenhausen, on the Schweizer Strasse. Plus it is free museum day on 26 July for many of the museums.

Personally, the last thing I want to do after a long, Trans-Atlantic flight is go sit in a train for a few more hours. All I want to do is check into my hotel, have a shower, maybe sightsee a bit, have a meal, then sleep.

The Sparpreis ticket is not refundable or changeable on the scheduled day of departure, much less after you miss the train, so I would not take the risk of pre-purchasing. If you will use three days of train travel, you can get a German Pass for $225 per person and no reservation requirement. The fifth person won't get that "twin" pass price, but could get a similar rate if not older than age 25 when activating the pass in Frankfurt. A pre-booked, one-day car rental often costs as much as a three-day rental, so you'd probably keep the car the whole time, if you pick it up in Frankfurt.